Meditation

06/04/2021

“Seventy sirens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes there will be seven ‘sevens’, and ‘sixty-two sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolation’s have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’s he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 16:24-27)

”Come, O Lord” (Greek – maranatha) is a transliteration of an Aramaic word. The world could mean, “Our Lord is come” and thus be a confession of the incarnation. These verses has caused a multitude of interpretations. The “seventy” may be related to Jeremiah 25 and 25. It is a major focal point in spite if its difficulties for some people’s doctrine of last things or end times. There are three major interpretations: 1) The historical—-The period in view is for Jeremiah @ 587 BC to Antiochus Epiphanies @ 164 BC. The anointed one is either Cyrus, Zerubbabel, or Joshua the high priest. The first seven weeks ended with the return of the Exiles in 538 BC. The intervening period ended in 171 BC with the murder of Onias, the high priest. The last week was from 171 – 164 BC, when Antiochus desecrated the Temple by sacrificing a pig. The next period 2) is considered the Messianic, the period in view is 538 BC to 70 AD (or after Christ’s death). The anointed one is Jesus Christ. The numbers are symbolical, not mathematical. The first seven weeks were from 538 BC to Ezra and Nehemiah. The sixty-two weeks were from Ezra to Christ. The last week was the Lord’s life climaxing in the tearing of the veil of the Temple. The final period 3) The Dispensational Premillennial, beginning in Ezra1:1-2 or from the decree of Artaxerxes to the restoration of Jerusalem in 444 BC. Sixty-nine weeks wee completed at Christ’s death. The seventieth seek is seen as a future tribulation period of seven years or a week of years. The present church age is a gap or parenthesis between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks which God had not revealed through His inspired prophets. In this view the future seven tribulation period will be divided at its midpoint. The focal point of the tribulation is seen by many to be the Jews in Jerusalem with a restored Temple. Covenant protection will prevail for the first three and a half year. The Jews will be favored by the world ruler or Antichrist, with the last three and a half years will a violation of the covenant and a time of great, unprecedented tribulation befall the Jews. All views would see that Christ gives a deeper meaning to these verses. Only in Him, beloved, is there hope for putting an end to sin, atoning for iniquity, completing prophecy, bringing in everlasting righteousness, and anointing the most holy. The ultimate fulfillment has not yet occurred. Only Christ’s final coming will totally fulfill the promises.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, may Your purposes be fulfilled in all aspects of Your creation, and may the end come as You have planned. For believers, it means simply that we will face judgment with Christ at our sides, and for non-believers, that they have already had their reward in this life and only judgment for their sins is coming at the promised time. We live to be Your servants, seeking direction in our lives and a relationship with You through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. It is in Jesus’ precious name that we pray. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“For every burden you bear, God lends a hand.”

KNOWING GOD:

“Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—-and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the believers those days will be shortened.” (Matthew24:20-22)

Prayer for protection from final tribulation is in order now. The day is expected when Christian will have to flee persecution and will need open roads without delay. In many passages “tribulation” refers to great distress of a general sort, such as may be brought on by rational catastrophies or unfortunate circumstances. The amillennial view is that the tribulation refers to the constant and sometimes intense sufferings Christians face because of their faith.

Premillennialists believe in such a general application but insist that this reference refers specifically to a particular, intensified period of future distress. Historically, the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD was an unusual occasion of great distress for its inhabitants. Prophetically a future time of great tribulation, unparalleled in human history, awaits the generation living at the time of Christ’s second coming.

I AM:

“When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong—let the ready understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be to those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But the sake of believers, whom he had chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ For Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceived the believers—if that were possible.” (Mark13:14-23)

The phrase “abomination that causes desolation” comes verbatim from Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. Abomination is a term that described sacrilege, such as the profaning of a holy place. Many believe Daniel’s prophecy has immediate reference to the unclean sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple commanded by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC. The word of Jesus had additional reference in the sacking of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD.

Amillennial interpret the phrase in terms of the past history and do not apply to the future. Premilleninnials often interpret the abomination that causes desolation as a reference to the time of the Antichrist immediately before Christ returns. Many see this complex set of ongoing interpretations as an illustration of the multiple fulfillment feature of many biblical prophecies. For myself, I think it is a simple as Jesus told. If we accept God through Him, live our lives seeking to help others find Him too, and take on the servant attitude of growing the kingdom of heaven, all things will fall into place for us and we will find ourselves in the kingdom. We can’t work our way to heaven, many had tried, but that’s not the way it works. We get the kingdom of Heaven only through God’s grace and believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Everything else is academic discussion. Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, Do you believe He died on the cross for our sins? Do you seek to live a righteous life, but when falling short, you honestly repent of your sins and find His forgiveness.

SECOND THOUGHT of the DAY:

“But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rest in you. You suffer, it should not be as a murderer and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not e as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, ‘If is is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’” (1^st Thessalonians4:13-18)

sinning.

God gave His Spirit to His people during times of persecution and siffering. Jesus promised He would do this (Mark 15:11), He said the Spirit is a lawyer or paraclete, who will shield His followers from false charges. More early Christians suffered from their faith, people throughout time have done the same and even today, people are suffering for their faith.

The attitude they took towards persecution was remarkable. They reasoned that since their Lord had suffered, they were privileged to experience what He had experienced. The Spirit continues to protect Christians from persecutions; but when it comes, He is ‘the Spirit of glory’ who abide with us during persecution. Certainly He does not desert us. He honors us fro sacrifice and suffering, just as He glorified Christ by raising Him from the dead.